500 BC - The Axial Age, many spiritual and peaceful religions are gaining hold, as well as monotheism.  Judaism is now over 500 years old, this is roughly the time of  the Buddha, Confucius and Lao Tzu (Taoism).  In China Sun Tzu has codified the rules of war which includes the beginnings of spies, disinformation and psychological operations.  Greece is doing quite well, letting its richer citizens dabble in democracy and developing philosophy.  Plato, Aristotle and Socrates, the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" originate from this general time.    Rome is forming.

350 BC - The earliest great conqueror we readily recognize, Alexander the Great, is doing his thing for the ancient Greeks.  He, unlike the Egyptians, is able to project his power well over a thousand miles, past the mountains of Iran, into India, Afghanistan, his advance scouts even reach Indonesia and the Himalayan Mountains, the gateway to China.  On his return he conquers Egypt and founds the city of Alexandria, builds a great library where he stores the knowledge and artifacts he gathered during his conquests.  He installs in Egypt the Ptolmey family as Pharoah, of which Cleopatra is the most famous descendant, though that is still 300 years away.  The mother of the Ptolmey line was a concubine in Cyrus (Alexanders dad) the Great's court.  Greece is now the dominant force in the west.  Also associated with the Greeks and warfare are Sparta(n), Troy (Trojan Horse) and Helen of Troy, whose face could launch a thousand ships.  With the world moving northwards, the south of Africa is receding from the collective consciousness, only one circumnavigation of Africa will occur in a thousand years (Necho).

Rome is but an upstart kingdom at this point, but the Caeser family is gaining power, and Rome is beginning an attempt to project its power toward Greece and south towards North Africa, the land of the ancient Phoenicians.

50 BC - Rome is on the rise.  They dominate Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt and North Africa. Caesar is about to become Emperor.  Cleopatra runs Egypt.  Little has changed technologically as far as warfare.  The Romans are quite adept at the use of the chariot, yet struggle riding the horse directly.  Armor is getting good, catapults have been developed and flaming balls of tar have been catapulted over city walls by this time.  An excellent example of this is Carthage, the capital of the Phoenicians, in North Africa, which the Roman galleys laid siege too with catapults flinging fiery death.  The Carthaginian General Hannibal returned the favor by ferrying elephants across the  Strait of Gibraltar, marched them through the mountains of Spain and attacked Rome. Sticky fire will still be an effective weapon in  2000 years, the Americans will use it in Vietnam and call it napalm.  Ships were oar driven, sometimes by hundreds of slaves, sails were in use, but they were not too good at  "tacking" yet, that is sailing against the wind.

The Jewish people have grown quite expansive, after surviving a mass kidnapping by the Babylonians, during which they heard of Zarathustra and co-opted him to be their new Savior.  The Romans are suspicious of the One God and enact pogroms (purges) against the Jewish people.

A German tribe the Tuetobons raid northern Italy, this is the earliest appearance of the group which will form the Teutonic Knights. 

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The year zero - The Roman Empire rules the western world without peer.  Caeser is Emperor.  In the west and most of the world we count from this date when measuring years.  We call it AD, latin for anno domini, the year of our Lord referring to Jesus.  The origin of Jesus is questioned.  Some claim he is supernatural, the son of the Jewish God (Yaweh/Jehovah).  Others say he is a myth, others yet claim he is a descendant of the Caeser/Marc Antony and Cleopatra love triangle.  Kiss my asp!  Theologically speaking, Jesus is the culmination of two mystery cults promising immortality, Zarathustra (Space Odyssey Music, Also Sprach, Wagner, Hitler) and Mithra, and the promise of the Savior for the Jewish people after they had been deported to Persia, and were being persecuted by the polytheistic Romans.  

 

325 AD - Nicea Greece - The Roman Empire has been split into a west and east segment.  The eastern part sets up in Turkey, they name their new city Constantinople.  The followers of Jesus, represented by the Pope and various bishops meet with the Emperor of East Rome, Constantine.  A religion based on Jesus is adopted as the official religion of the Roman Empire.  It is here that the virgin conception of Jesus, the concept of the Trinity and Jesus'  ascension are codified. A new holy book of Jehovah is born, the New Testament, which supersedes the Old testament, which dates back 1000 years to the Torah (First Five Books Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus attributed to Moses) The center of Roman power has moved 1000 miles east.  No major developments have occurred technologically speaking as to warfare.  However, an ancient invention from the steppes of Russia and the East is making an impact in the Roman Empire.  The Romans don't have it.  Attila the Hun and his followers do.  It is the stirrup, providing increased stability while riding a horse thus enabling massed cavalry charges that shattered the will of the remaining Roman soldiers.

476 AD - Rome - The Roman Empire has fallen after a series of invasions by the Huns, Goths, Vandals, exploiting cavalry mastery, in which they sack the city, kidnap leaders, burn it, and drive the survivors away.  As early as 401 AD they have sacked Florence.  Romes population once over a million dips under a thousand.  It will not reattain the one million mark for 1000 years.  The Eastern Roman Empire is doing well in Constantinople.  The center of power in the west shift towards the Catholic Church and the Frankish kings who received their power via the Pope and an Odacer (he deposed Romulus Augustus the final emperor in the west) who worked for Attila's people.  The earliest Frankish King is Merovich founder of the Merovingian dynasty which would last for 300 years until Charlemagne (Carolingian) took over which signaled the beginning of unified Germany, called the Holy Roman Empire.  Merovech is noted for long reddish curly hair as were the Ptolmeys and Ceasers.   Legend says Merovich is descended from a serpent, neptuni for the pagans, the fish symbol of Jesus for the believers.

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With Rome beaten and the Catholic Church still relatively weak, Europe enters the DARK AGES.

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